The number-one New York Times bestselling Heir to the Empire was the publishing event of the year, the first novel to continue the adventures of Luke Skywalker, PrincessLeia, and Han Solo, beyond the events of the most popular trilogy in movie history. Now comes Dark Force Rising, the second volume of a three-book cycle authorized by Lucasfilm Ltd. and written by Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn.

Meanwhile, dissension and personal ambition threaten to tear the Republic apart. As Princess Leia—pregnant with Jeditwins—risks her life to bring a proud and lethal alien race into alliance with the Republic, Han and Lando Calrissian race against time to find proof of treason inside the highest Republic Council—only to discover instead a ghostly fleet of warships that could bring doom to their friends and victory to their enemies.

But most dangerous of all is a new Dark Jedi, risen from the ashes of a shrouded past, consumed by bitterness…and thoroughly, utterly insane. Now he schemes to use his awesome mastery of the Force to summon young Skywalker, allay his misgivings, cunningly enthrall him, and ultimately corrupt him to the Dark Side.

A tale of brilliant spectacle, startling revelations, and tumultuous action, Dark Force Rising moves with the speed of light across a dazzling epic landscape of galactic proportions, from world to world, from adventure to adventure, as Good and Evil clash across the vastness of space "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.…"

The dying Empire's most cunning and ruthless warlord—Grand Admiral Thrawn—has taken command of the remnants of the Imperial fleet and launched a massive campaign aimed at the New Republic's destruction. Meanwhile, Han and Lando Calrissian race against time to find proof of treason inside the highest Republic Council—only to discover instead a ghostly fleet of warships that could bring doom to their friends and victory to their enemies.

Yet most dangerous of all is a new Dark Jedi, risen from the ashes of a shrouded past, consumed by bitterness…and scheming to corrupt Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side.

Because of the events that led up to the events of the Battle of Sluis Van in the previous novel, lead smuggler Talon Karrde has left his base on Myrkr and is now fleeing from Grand Admiral Thrawn's Imperial forces. Meanwhile, LukeSkywalker meets the insane Joruus C'boath and agrees to be taught by him on the planet Jomark to further his knowledge of the Force. However, when Karrde is captured by Thrawn, Mara Jade finds that she once again needs the help of Luke, the man she so hates under the belief that he killed her beloved master, Emperor Palpatine, during the Battle of Endorfive years earlier. So Mara arrives on Jomark and she and Luke defeat C'boath just as he tries to kill them for taking Luke away from the training, which Luke and Mara both know is psychologically compromised due to C'boath's insanity. The two of them infiltrate Thrawn's Empire and save Karrde.

Meanwhile, in the continuation to find Delta Source, the believed source in the New Republic that is spying for Thrawn, HanSolo and Lando Calrissian try to find evidence at the planet New Cov. At New Cov, it is believed that one of Senator Borsk Fey'lya's advisers is a traitor to the New Republic for Thrawn, and is thus a primary suspect for Delta Source. But before Han, Lando and Luke can find any real evidence to whether or not Fey'lya's adviser is a traitor (Luke was helping Han and Lando out on this mission before he left for C'boath), the three of them soon find out that Thrawn's forces have arrived on the planet. They manage to escape, and Han and Lando are saved by a third party, which takes them to an unknown location where they meet the legendary General Garm bel Iblis, one of the initial members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Bel Iblis disagrees to help the New Republic defeat Thrawn on account of personal problems with Chief of StateMon Mothma.

Elsewhere, Leia Organa Solo keeps the promise she made with the Noghri known as Khabarakh back on the planet Kashyyyk in the previous novel and arrives on Khabarakh's devastated home planet of Honoghr. Leia manages to get the entire Noghri race to side with the New Republic against Thrawn by exposing the fact that it was the Empire that devastated Honoghr, not the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

The novel climaxes when the New Republic finds out from Talon Karrde that an old superior of his, Captain Hoffner, exposed the secret of the legendary Katana fleet to Thrawn. This fleet can supposedly grant Thrawn total infallible military power that will ultimately cripple the New Republic. A battle between the New Republic and Thrawn's forces ensues, and while the New Republic manages to destroy a few of the Katana fleet's ships, it is ultimately Thrawn who wins when he gets the majority of the Katana forces.

However, Vader also lost his right hand to Luke Skywalker's lightsaber in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, published some 14 years prior to Dark Force Rising. It would not be putting sources in conflict to assume that Vader lost his arm in all of these instances; in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Luke notes that Vader's arm did not bleed as much as he expected (bearing in mind that at that point in Star Wars development, lightsabers did not necessarily cauterize wounds), implying that the arm may have been a prosthetic already due to Anakin's battle with Dooku. Vader also lost his right hand to Luke Skywalker's lightsaber during the Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Mara Jade may not have known of either of those two incidents when explaining the loss of Vader's hand to Luke, and Luke had simply neglected to mention that he had cut off Vader's hand as well.

The book also states that the Clone Wars were 44 years before it takes place, which would put the Battle of Honoghr at 35 BBY, well before the Clone Wars. The proper time would be 29 years before. The reason given for that mistake is also the fact that the book was written before prequel knowledge had gotten to Zahn.